Dinner reservations - worth it? Recommendations?
We are taking our first family trip to Disney World this spring and need to make reservations soon IF we want them. Kids will be 7 and 8 at the time. Are full service dinners worth it if visiting Disney is not a regular occurrence? I have searched in the sub for recommendations on restaurants but noticed many mention recurring trips. At this point I’m leaning towards doing just one full service dinner to maximize our time in the parks. Does this seem right if you don’t make trips to Disney often and aren’t sure when you’ll go back? And if so, knowing that, what restaurant is recommended for a family of 4 with two daughters. Neither are overly into princesses. More interested in an experience rather than the food, which is another thing I noticed. Comments that the food wasn’t special at whatever restaurant. We figure it’s Disney and are more interested in having a magical time more so than expecting the best food we’ve ever had.
Also, just to add, we lived right down the road from Disneyland for several years and did do many trips there while we were so close. We always did quick service and we were always happy. I know WDW offers more since there are more parks, so while I think we’d be happy doing all quick service I don’t want to travel all that way and entirely write the idea of full service off which is why I feel we need to at least try one.
Edit to add: We will be doing 4 days at the parks, so a park a day. We planned to eat at Disney Springs the day we fly in, have 4 days at Disney, then 2 days at Universal. We’re from Houston, so this isn’t a quick drive for us and we don’t know when we will be back. My 7 year old is a foodie and does love trying new things, while my 8 year old is very much a stick to the basics and not very adventurous. I also do anticipate eating a lot of snacks because that was always one of my favorite parts of Disneyland.